A   C9RISTIAN   ADDRESS 


TO     : 


CONFEDERATE    SOLDIERS. 


:~ER,    TA. 

TED    AT   THE    REPUBLICAN    0, 


L€61. 


Jl 


■ 


A  CHRISTIAN  ADDRESS 
:  o  the 

CONFEDERATE   ARMY 


Soldiers  : — 

You  imd  yourselves  suddenly  plunged  inr.o  all  the    real 
ities  ©f  a  hard  service,  away  from  home,  at  the  hazard  of 
property,  health  and  life.      Why  are  you  where  you  ar 
Unlike  the  armies  of  Europe,  the  unconsulted,  unery 
ing  subjects  of  mere  power,  you  do  not  fight  like  ma  ,.> 

simply  because  you  are  bidden.  Never  was  the: 
arary  so  entuely  one  m  heart  and  mind,  with  the  authori- 
ties in  command,  civil  and  military.  Their  counsels  are 
your  co'L.nseis,»and  their  objects  are  your  objects,  one  un-- 
di\  ided.  Never  were  theresuch  immense  armiefl  in  the  field  . 
who  so  longed  for  peace  and  home,  and  who  wore  so  re- 
solved to  see  neither  until  the  work  which  they  had  un- 
dertaken should  be  accomplished. 

But  this  is  not  enough.  You,  as  well  as  the  authorities  in 
command;  are  amenable  to  truth  and  justice,  ard  to  the 
judgments  of  an  eternal  world.  Therefore,  when  an* 
man,  bo  he  friend  or  foe,  Statesman  or  Christian,  asks 
"  What  are  you  fightvx?  for  P'  you  ought  to  be  prepared  to 
give  an  irrefutable  answer ;  for  if  this  war  be.  rr  oraily 
wrong  on  your  part,  no  Christian  Address  to  you  could 
open  with  anything  less  than  the  warning  words  of  the 
prophet:  "Break  off  from  your  sins  by  righteousness  and 
from  your  iniquities  by  turning  unto  Goof."  Throw  down 
your  arms  and  go  home— it  is  better  to  suffer  tyranny  and 
spoliation,  anything,  rather  than  be  in  a  moral 


i\    then    are    the    true   merit?    of  1  - 

F,ucn  a    fea  stion  we   must  go   to   the   bottom    o 

thin 

tnitting  any  amount  of  sin,  which   may   be   en 
upon    individuals  oi  t    party    B]  ition, 

such  as  exi  trnments,  arid  of  w 

has  had  its  full  share,  the  follows  s  coun- 

try held  to  be  indisputable,  while  they   are  admitted  by 
not  a  few  in  the  very  country  widen  is  seeking  our  des  I 

ti'on  : 

eri  long  engaged  iii  making  tfar 

the    South.     For   more  than    forty    years    it  i 

(1  pon  In  this  form  it  came  to  be  unparalled  ia 

bitterness  and  calumny.     Tho 
aided  of  late  years   by  the  pulpit  -  "*€ 

ict   of  this  war  has   been    tl 
educator     '  the   mind.     This  press,  including   all  the  pa- 
pers of  Urge  circulation,  and  falling  more  arc!  i 
the    "sensation"  style,  has  stirred  up  popular    prejudice 
and  hatred,  and  greatly  increased  popular   ienoran 
g    upon  the  fact  of  there  being  f 

■  ;>es  in  the  South  in  domestic  servitude,  th 
brought   here  originally    under    English    law,  hy    English 
non-residents    and  against  the  will  oi  the  i 
English  and  Northern  slave  traders. 

At   the  adoption   of  the  Constituti"-  populatien 

was  found  to  be  an  inseparable  element  in  the  Souti 
States,  at  once  their  burden  and  their  trust.     Their  exclu- 
sive  control   was   of  right   guaranteed   to 
States    in  which  they   were  found  by    the  most  stri: 
obligation?  of  the    national    faith,  and    it   was  upon    this 
ground  that  these  States  became  a  party  io  the  Con 
tion,  in  which  instrument  the  slave  is  accurately  des* 
as  a  person  held  to  service  ;  and  the   State  laws  male 
service  the  "  chattels" — not  his  person,  which  is  pro;. 
by  various  enactments  ;  and  it  is  observed  of  these  '.. 
000  thus  held  to  service,  that  no  similar  number  of  peer.'  -, 
upon  record  ever  rose  so  rapidly  from  the  savage  st 
civilization,    Christianity    and    general   happiness. 
improvement  is  still  in  progress  by  the  will  of  the  States,  a..  . 
they  will  enjoy,  as  fast  as  they  are  prepared  for  it,  al 
liberty  compatible  with  the  joint  interest  of  the  two  I 


this  pro-.  •    .   'South  is 

made  use  of,  not  only  for  the  formation  of  Northern 

hostile  to  the  South,  but  as  a  convenient  engine  for 
perpetual    agitation    and    excitement   by  all    the  arts    of 
.ood,  ridicule  and  malignant  wit,  respecting  not  only 
,-,  outat  length  every  thyag  Southern  ;  a  stateof  things 
wl  ich  the  South  could  find  no  peace  or  rest  frpm  ag 
....     That  she  had  in  Congress  and  elsewhere  some 
who  were  arrogant  and  of  extreme  opinions  does  not  alter  the 
leading  facts  in  the  ease  at  all.     Meanwhile,  the  sensation 
papers — there  great  genii  of  evil — were    in  rivalry  :  each 
striving  to   outdo  the  others  in.   the  cultivation  of  a   field 
so  productive  of  fruit  for  the  taste  which  they  had  created, 
until   the  stream  of  sectional   calumny  became  a   torrent 
destructive,    as  all   wise   men   had    foreseen   it   certainly 
I  be,  of  every  bond  which  could  hold  such  a  govern- 
ment  together.     Commercial  interests,   too,  had  unfortu- 
f  been   long  running  in  the  same    channels  with  this 
supra   scriptural   and   fac  ; lions    philanthropy    upon    the 
slavery    question,  in    the  history    of  which    it   has   been 
>bserved  of  all  who  have  given  themselves  up  to  it,  yet  »t 
has  worked  in  them  the  notion  of  a  law— not  only  higher 
than   the  laws  of  their  country,  but  higher   than  the   law 
of  God,  and  those   meetings  in  which  it  comes  to  its  last 
zation  with  men  and  women   are  scenes  of  shocking 
.  blasphemous  infidelity. 
These  malign   influences  united,  first  carried  the  State 
elections,  and   in  the  Northern  legislatures  the  first   bars 
of  the  Union  gave  way.     Nine  of  them  passed  laws  under 
.  le  of  personal  liberty  bills, which  were  not  only  couched 
in  terms  studiously  offensive  to  the  South,  but  which  v.  ere 
rectand  palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.    "Its  plainest  provisions  could  no   longer 
be   executed  in  the   Northern  States   except  at  the   perijl 
of  the   Southern  man's  life.     In   fact,  they  could  not    bo 
■  ted   at  all.     The   plea  of  these  laws   being  for  the 
protection  of  free  negroes,   was  hypocritical,  since  it   was 
pretended  that  even  one  such  had  ever  been  claimed. 
But  those  in  the  lead  of  this  invasion  of  the  South  could 
wait  for  laws — even   their   own.     In    October, 
long    and  extensive   preparations    in  the    North.,  an 
ion    ivas  made  into   Virginia   to  produce  a   servile 


insurrection   and  general   slaughter. 

murdered  in  the  night   by  abolitionists,  and    nothin 

le  good  providence  of  G  ted  an  indiscr 

massacre.     I  q  ijority  of  the 

demned    this  invasion,  or  seemed  to  do  so.     I  say 

;everal  of  the  States  refused  to   give  un  such  of 
ourderers   as  escaped,  while   there   was  an' ominous 
nprity    who  opehry  with  the    - 

and  held  public  meetings  in  their  honor. 
i :.     Federal  C  next  overborne  and  made  a 

war  of  disunion,  now  to  be  carried 
property     as     well    as     character    and    peace. 
Fhough  the  South  was  the  1 .    j  Iticer  of  f1 

U  in  the  world,  she  was  not  allowed 
■icfitofit.     Th  made  chiefly  to  ac 

the  North,  through  the  tariff  and  navigation  la  ■■ 
her  inexorable  laws  of  I  i  JNOrth  col 

t .was  on.  bscuredby  theorie 

sd.     But  the  next 
P*i  .  en  of  a  pretence.     The  North  seized  upon 

•    territories.     It  v.  •  ,.v  Vv-er0  thc  com. 

mon  property  of  na  :  bat  the  North  resor 

■   h.gher   law  and  pleaded  conscience    f •  ft 
could   not  "extend  slavery"— though  it  was  demon- 
able  that  the  South  would  not  by  taking  her  portion 
•hv?    I,J"  d  One  to  the  number  of  slave-   but  on 

the    contrary    give  the  blacks    as     .Jl  hiU 

rig  out,  an  opportunity  to  get  a  bettei   .  I 

n     -the  North  said  to  the  South,  you  shall  have  iiofle 

into  them,  though  lying  next  you    a: 
you  leave  your  property  behind  you,  and  move  into  them 
as  Northern  men.     Thus  the  South  saw  herself  stringed  of 
all  her  property  in  the  territories,  and  stripped  by  law   for 
by  foreign  emigration  the  Nerth  had  now  the  power  to 

Finally    a  sectional  and    anti-Scuthern   canciidate  was 

rrated  for  the  Presidency,  and  the  principal  document 

ted  by  the  party  from  Washington  to  carry  his  election'. 

bohtion  essay  by  a  Senator  from  Massachu 

bo    had  been  endorsed  by  the  Legislature  of  that 

exhausted  all  the  r>t)<vers  of  sectional  de- 

md  insult  and  a-  if  to  make  the  mora'  dfcu 


nion  complete  and  irreparable,  it  was  thrust  upon  the  aifr 
ire  South  through  the  mails.  This  sectional  candidate  was 
decied — t3ao  first  in  the  history  of  the  Republic,  and  as 
might  have  been  foreseen  of  any  such  election  it  has  prov- 
ed the  last — for  what  was  the  result?  The  South  found 
herself  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  North,  with  all 
power  in  the  hands  of  an  irresponsible  majority,  and  thai 
majority  her  enemies,  to  control  her  property  and  hei 
mer.ee  by  a  system  under  which  she  had  long  groaned,  and 
the  North  grown  rich  and  able  to  oppress  that  section 
which  her  property  chiefly  had  come.  What  could  the 
South  do  under  a  war  of  this  sort,  growing  more  and  more 
formidable  every  year.  It  is  said  in  reply  that  she  [i 
had  left  for  her  protection  the  Constitution  and  the  Supreme 
Court.  But  every  knowing  and  impartial  person  foresaw 
that  these  barriers  would  as  certainly  yield  as  the  other 
powers  of  the  Government  had  yielded.  The  party  leaders 
whom  the  North  was  following  had  already  in  their 
speeches  assailed  and  repudiated  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  the  new  Executive  who  had  done  the 
same  thing  in  his  very  first  official  act,  could  and  would 
soon  mould  that  court  to  his  mind  by  the  appointment  of 
new  judges.  And  could  any  man  doubt  that  the  Conafci-: 
rution  which  had  been  so  summarily  set  aside  by  a  major- 
ity of  the  Northern  States  in  their  State  capacity,  would 
oe  as  certainly  set  aside  under  one  pretext  or  another  by 
fche.se  same  parties  in  their  national  capacity,  so  soon  as 
they  were  ready  for  it?  If  there  be  a  doubt  upon  this 
point,  it  is  dispelled  by  the  prompt,  flagrant  and  admitted 
trampling  under  foot  of  both  the  Constitution  and  laws 
by  the  excited  and  maddened  Federal  Executive  and 
Congress  within  the  past  six  months. 

But  it  is  further  alleged  that  the  South  should  have 
sought  a  Constitutional  redress  of  grievances  by  a  call  o.f 
a  general  convention  of  all  the  States  to  release  her  from 
the  Union.  But  the  parties  who  so  allege  are  the  very 
parties  who  voted  against  every  measure  proposed  in  the 
"Peace  Conference"  for  the  relief  of  the  South,  and  will  one 
of  them  say  they  believe  the  North  ever  would  have  con- 
sented to  the  calling  of  such  a  Convention  at  alii  The 
,-  hole  world  knows  they  would  not. 

to  this   point  no  one  pretends  that  the  S  hacl 


tver  infringed  the  Constitution  either  in  its  letter  or  spirit, 
by  State  laws,  courts  or  otherwise.  The  only  cose  urged, 
that  of  imprisoning  negro  sailors  carried  into  South  Caro- 
lina contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  State,  was  overruled  by  a 
subsequent  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  declaring  that 
such  persons  were  not  "citizens/'  as  it  also  decided  that 
the  Missouri  restriction  upon  slavery  to  which  the  South 
had  reluctantly  submitted  was  also  unconstitutional. 

But  surely  the  South  should  have  waited  until  the  sec- 
tional party  now  in  full  power  had  proceeded  to  some  overt 
act  of  invasion — i.  e.  it  should  have  waited  until  bound 
hand  and  foot,  and  resistance  had  become  impossible,  as 
it  would  have  been  within  the  first  four  years,  jnore  prob- 
ably the  first  four  months,  of  an  administration  now  for  the 
first  time  inaugurated  seetionally  against  the  South. — 
Moreover,  the  South  by  a  deeper  and  juster  view,  saw 
not  in  the  late  election  a  mere  political  defeat,  such  as  ail 
ea  have  in  turn  cheerfully  submitted  to,  but  the  final 
completion  and  triumph  of  a  plan,  which  had  been  as- 
suming a  move  and  more  definite  shape  since  1820.  for  en- 
abling the  North  to  govern  her  at  will. 

To  the  mass  of  the  Northern  people  it  would  bo  unjust 
to  call  this  a  plan,  for  they  did  not  intend  anything  of 
the  sort  ;  but  they  were  led  by  those  who  did  intend  it. 
They  were  educated  to  it,  and  no  comprehensive  observer 
of  the  growingly  sectional  workings  could  doubt  what 
was  the  general  drift  of  things,  or  what  the  issue  must 
certainly  be — i.  e.  just  what  it  has  proved  to  be.  A  polit- 
ical leader  has  thoroughly  misled  the  Northern  under- 
standing by  the  false  dogma  of  the  "  irrepressible  con- 
flict," and  as  thoroughly  corrupted  its  conscience  by  its 
twin  dogma  of  the  "  higher  law,"'  and  this  same  leader 
had  been  heard  to  say  some  years  ago,  when  he  saw  a 
train  filled  with  foreign  emigrants  :  "These  are  the  men 
who  will  one  day  be  righting  our  battles  with  the  South'  — 
;ion  then  innocent  of  the  thought  of  war- 

What  then  could  be  done?  All  remedies  affording  a 
shadow  of  hope  had  been  exhausted.  It  had  come  to 
sectional  subjugation  or  secession.  Waiving  the  dispute 
about  the  Constitutional  right  of  sovereign  States  to  se- 
cede, in  which  a  majority  of  you  probably  do  not  believe,none 
dispute  the  right  of  States  or  other  communities  to  re;eet 


3 

any  existing  government  upon  sufficient  cause,  or  that 
"here  may  be  such  causes,  as  in  our  American  Revolution. 
The  South  judged  that  she  had  such  cause,  and  eleven 
great  States,  comprising  a  territory  as  large  as  all  Europe, 
Russia  excepted,)  and  one  of  the  richest  in  the  world, united 
and  declarod  their  independence.  Three  other  States 
are  with  them  in  heart,  as  they  would  be  in  fact,  but  for 
their  dread  of  the  Federal  invader. 

The  South  did,  indeed,  take  "  the  publlic  property" 
within  her  bounds  ;  not  a  tithe  of  what  she  was  entitled 
to  upon  a  fair  division,  but  for  which  she  offered  to  pledge 
herself  upon  a  final  settlement.  She  asked  no  more,  and 
wished  to  go  in  peace,  and  did  everything  in  her  power 
compatible  with  her  independence  to  prevent  war.  Fort 
Sumter  was  not  touched  until  a  hostile  fleet  was  known 
to  be  on  its  way  from  New  York.  Virginia,  with  a  Union 
majority  of  three  to  one,  did  not  secede  until  her  com' 
missioners  to  Washington  had  been  refused  even  a  hear- 
ing, and  she  saw  by  the  Federal  call  for  a  large  army  that 
the  alternative  was  submission  to  the  policy  of  the  Repub- 
lican administration,  whatever  it  might  be,  or  invasion  by 
force  of  arms.  The  alternative  before  the  whole  South 
was  an  independent  government  or  subjugation.  She 
could  not  hesitate.  She  chose — you  chose  the  former  at 
whatever  hazards  of  conflict  with  such  an  enemy,  and  it 
is  perhaps  plain  enough  now  that  she  did  not  strike  for 
liberty  a  day  too  soon. 

The  difficulties  were  past  all  reconciliation.  The  North 
had  already  carried  on  the  war  too  long.  The  disunion* 
in  feeling  she  had  made  an  impassable  gulph. 

The  North  has  now  come  seeking  the  blood  of  oiw  cit 
izens,  and  upon  what  plea? — the  public  property?  one 
has  nearly  the  whole  of  it  already.  Is  it  the  restoration 
of  the  Union  ?  She  knows  that  this  is  simply  impossible, 
except  by  establishing  a  military  despotism  ovor  these 
States,  and  "holding  them  as  territories  under  governors 
appointed  from  Illinois  and  Massachusetts,"  as  sugg< 
by  a  leading  Republican  Senator  ;  and  it  is  this  or  some 
equivalent  which  the  North  is  now  fighting  for,  since  no 
hope  for  a  re-establishment  of  the  Union  is  now  even 
professed.  To  carry  out  this  design,  a  war  is  now  being 
waged  upon  us  in  a  style  better  befitting  savages  Chan  civ 


men.    There  ips,  no  example   u 

of  one  people  so  exceedingly  mad  against 
hence  the   savage  cruelties  which  have   characte 

ion.     Our  very  bed  chambers  arc  inf. 
derers  and  thieves.     Uur  citizens   found  in  the  j 
hunted  down  and  imprisoned  and  their  property  confisca- 
ted :  -while    in  the  Border  and   Northern    State- 
citizens,  upon   no  ether  ground  than 
sympathy   with  oar   sufferings  and   wrongs,  are  • 
the    night,  denied  a  trial,  and  hurried   away  to  be    > 
nitely  immured  in  the  prison  of  Fort  Lafayette.     S 
this  Republican  Bastile  might  stir  the  ashes  of  the 
friend  of  liberty  whose  name  it  so  inappro]  ears. 

But  let  us  beware  of  injustice   in   ourselves,  the 
thing  all  complain  of  in  others,  and  of  that  liability 
we  arc  all  under  to  cover  up  our  own  faults  while  W€ 
gerate  those  of  our  enemies,  and  so  pass   an  uni 
judgment,  which  good  men  should  fear  more  thai   I 
of  a  battle.     We  cannot  doubt  that  there  are  th   - 
North  who  have  no  unholy  no  • 

Lave  been  persuaded  that  it  is  right  to  force  I 
federate  States  into  subjection  to  the  United  St 
whatever  cost,"  (to  use  their  own  exj  v 

laughter.     They  sincerely  believe  the  South  to 
the  wrong.     Their  error  is  in  the  attempt,  to  right  them- 
selves upon  such  a  scale  of  distruction.     But  will] 
number  the  motive  is  ambition  and  revenge.     With 
great  mass  the  motive  is  simply  that  of  pecuniary    ;. 

holding  the  South'.  in  this  as] 

ence  between  us  is  this  :     V»re  are  lighting    for  ou- 
jiroperty,  they  for  their  neighbors'.     Their  position  :• 
of  one  holding  a  pistol  to  the  breast  of  the   South 
5,    "your  money  or  your  life."     Their  lor 
so  far  as  we  can  gain  any  know! 
are   an   acknowledgement  of  their  right  to  rule 
obey  ouch  laws  as  they  may  make;  the  ha! 
stance  to  pay  the  costs  of  their  invasion,  and  extern 
tion,  by  fire  and  sword,  if  we  do  not  submit. 

Now  while  we  hold  all  wars  of  aggression  an  1  ir.v 

.ontrary  to  the  will  of  God.  as  they  are  pj 

:o  bis  word,  those  strictly  in  self-defer 
>:    individual  self- defense  be  lawful,  national  s^: 


10 

stands  on  precisely  the  same  ground  ;  and  if  this  be  no- 
lawful  there  can  be  no  end  to  tyranny  or  conquest.     We 

or  fall,  then,  in  this  war  of  self-defense,  accord: - 
the  righteousness  and  sufficiency  of  our  reasons.  These 
reasons  are  before  you.  They  are  your  own  reasons  and 
10  mine,  and  we  not  only  spread  them  out  before 
the  world  for  a  righteous  verdict — we  spread  them  out 
before  God,  and  appeal  to  HIM  as  the  God  of  Justice  for 
the  justice  of  our  cause,  acting  under  the  only  guide  to 
conscience  and  duty  known  to  us.  Under  these  solemn 
convictions  we  implore  his  assistance— 

1st.  As  the  God  of  pence,  that  if  war  be  forced  upon 
us,  he  would  save  us  from  the  war  spirit,  which  is  contrary 
to  his  will,  no  matter  how  just  our  cause,  and  enable  us  to 
tore  our  persecutors  according  to  the  sense  of  his  own  in- 
jnriction.  To  love  our  persecutors  is  a  plain  Christian 
duty,  and  by  God's  p-ace  it  is  practicable.  But  fcr  a:;y  to 
love  those  whom  they  are  persecuting  is  impossible. 

2d.  As  the  God  of  wisdom  and  of  right,  that  he  vn\\ 
save  us  from  all  counsels  which  he  will  not  himself  :  |  • 
prove  and  bless,  and  if  battle  be  forced  upon  us  then 

3rd.  Vve  implore  him  as  the  God  of  battles  that  He  will 
not  suffer  us  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  such  enemies — ene- 
mies vindictively  resolved  to  drive  the  plow-share  of  war 
not  only  through  the  Southern  soil,  but  through  the 
Southern  heart. 

Here  then  is  your  answer  to  the  question:  ""What  are 
you  lighting  for  ?"'  It  is  the  answer  which  we  give  to 
other  nations,  whether  they  now  understand  our  position 
or  not.  And  what,  is  of  infinitely  more  importance,  it  is 
that  which  we  humbly  regard  as  our  .justification  before 
God,  and  his  own  authorization  of  this  defense.  If  wfc 
s.re  in  error,  may  He  graciously  show  it  to  us,  and  give  us 
the  humility  to  act  accordingly. 

I  have  placed  "his  political  statement  first  in  this  Chris- 
tian address  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  the  facts  which 
it  recites  lay  at  the  vory  foundation  of  things,  and  so  gov- 
ern the  question  of  right  and  wrong,  and  so  govern  the 
question  of  duty  in  this  most  responsible  act  of  your  lives- 
:.    presently    and  mainly   to  talk  about   religion  ;  but 

.     rain  to  talk  about  religion  while  voluntarily  engaged 
ntfrary  to  the  will  of  God,     I  also' place 


ii 

this  srv  .  :st,  because  at  the  beginnteg  I  had  dc  i 

5S8  of  resistance    by  force  if 
arms. 

An  elaborate  revipw  of  the  facts  taken  in  their  his* 
order  and  connection,  weakened  those  doubt-..     The  refusal 
of  all  ?edres  ua  promise,  and  the   Federal  inau. 

red  them  ;  an  ■; 
that    v.'ar  ajid    the  savage  sei 
of  the   North  toward  o\:. 

n  the  court  of 
•work   in  which  you    are  engaged,  I   come  to  the    dir 
of  tins    address.     We,  of  the  greft! 
of  the   people  at  hon  that  for  ou 

own,  you, are   i  to   all    these   hardships   and 

perils.     Wai  .  himself  in  the  fore 

front  of  the  great  judgements  which  he  visits    upon  the 
world   for  sin,  5  Is,  by  Him   before   pestih 

■i.'idfu:  ,  :  »st  heavily,  though  per 

sonally  you  or  bettor,  than  and 

bund  svu  rou,  got  0|jly  by  relati 

whose  faces  you  have  n 
It  is  fell  bodily  health  and 

innumerable  hands    at  work  for   you 
:    and  by  nigh  ...     I  ^hich 

for   your   spiritual 
bj    the  ardent   pr 
behalf,     Our  desire  for 
you,    sur]  2  >the  te  that  .you  may  be  true 

and  thus  h 
loe. 
ou  have  been  professors  of  religion  at  h 
tre  now  witnessing  I    jaion    in  the  camp 

To   you   the   interests    of  religion    are 
now   specially    committed — interests    pf  greater   moment 
■  j  issue  of  battles  or  the  fate  of  nations.     May  you, 
■     prove  standard  bearers  for  Him  whose    kingdoru 
shall  endure,  when  Jieave  rth  have  passed  away  I 

omeof  you  in  whom  (before  yo.u  entered  the  a: . 

but  a  feeble  principle  at  least,  are   in  danger 
•.     You   needed  then  all  fhe  :n- 


12 

;■»  by  to  keep  you  from  falling  away.  What  will  become 
of  you  now  ?  There  is  but  one  course.  Throw  yours 
upon  those  special  promises  which  arc  made  for  speciaJ 
temptations.  The  general  influences  of  war 
common  consent,  unfriendly  to  the  Christian  life,  you 
must  be  forewarned  and  forearm'ed  against  that  which  is 
feure  to  come.  Sometimes  the  batteries  of  .Satan  must  he 
faced  and  stormed  and  silenced.     In  other,  an  I 

frequent  eases,  retreat  is  not  cuily  the  path  of  safety, 
but  of  wisdom,  as  in    war  you  must  retire   fi  sitidtt 

which  you   cannot  defend.     When   a  weak    < 
counters  strong   temptation,   discretion  is    the  bett<  i 
of  valor.     If  you  can  escape  temptation,  arid  do  n 
may  expect  to  fall  ;  but  if  you  cannot  escape  an 
(jod    for    help,    you.    have    his    promise    fov    the    v: 
Pear  of  the  world  is  probably  nowhere  s6  strong 
army   and  many  who  have  beer:  truly  converted 
there   than  any  where  else  to  be   ashamed 
ion — ashamed    of    Christ!     Think   of  it,    and 
cease    to   think  of  it,    UJftil    you  can    say;  vrii 
sincerity-  - 

"  No,  when  1  blush  bo  this  my  shame, 

That  I  ho  more  revere  his  name/' 

not 'neglect  the  means  of  success  wh'i 

en  for  those  much  stronger  than  you.     Can 
tory  be  won  without  a  fight?     When  Col.  Gardner,  that 
[u  ■    .       ovtift&l,  had  to  march  at  six,  he  rose  at  four    I  tr 
he  Bible  and  prayer.     Watch  and  pray,  and 
.1  brethren  will  watch  and  pray  for  you  at  home; 
But   the  great  mass  in  the  army  ara  elsewhere  do  not 
profess  any   religion  at  all,  or  believe  themselves  ever  to 
have  beten,born  again,  without  which   Christ     .  'man 

.    ':■  the  kingdom  of  heaven.     To  tin 
iondition  there  are  Several  -things  which  '.     in 
•est  and  your  duty  to  consider  :  — 
Lst.     The  first  thing  as  people  generally  rrfi 
I..:  the  fear  of  death  :    but  experience  | 
think  as  little  of  death  as  others,  and  fin  I. tin  f  it  a; 

procluctive  of  true  religion.     In  fact  this  fi  ■ 
>rth  in   the  Bible  with  any  sp  •     . 

. ..    to  mal       -■  a;  jom  >.    i 


18 

should  tes  .  that 

•    aid  be  at  home.     ".'  I    only  the 

ith  an  in  - 
ips.     If  all  men  may  then  be 

appeal      I  f  the  un- 

-  .  much  more  the  soldi 

is  a  greater  matter  than  this  to  be  considered. 

2d.      Tnc  exposure  qfitht  :<-,-,■.     Jf  yon  have  beer,  anytime 
.  p,  and  ever  knew  anything  before  about  the  circunv 
3  and  means  under   which  men  generally  become 
Christians,  you   have  only  to  compare  your  present  situa- 
it  once  was,  to  see  that  the  danger  oi    • 
r ted  and  saved  is  very  much  inen 
by  your  be 

solemnly  to  this  fact  would  be  both  unfaithful  and  un- 
i  md.     But  remember  a 

3rd.      77'  d   in  the  a 

Examples  ave  not  wanting   in   your  own    camps  of  tho°e 
into  the  ranks  unconverted  sinners,  who  are  nov! 
I  Hi-  istians,  prepared  equally  to  live  or  die.  God  also  has 

promised  that  when  in  the  discharge  of  one  du 
hindrances  are  encountered,  in  the  discharge  of  an 
and  greater  duty  to  himself  he  will  give  grace  in  propor- 
tion.    Do  not  then  be  d;  i  in  the  least,  or    I 
yen  must  put  off"  religion  until  you  get  out  of  the  army, 
for  you  may  pass  directly  from  the  army  to  your  las  I 
count,  or  what  is  more  probable  and  more  to  be  dreaded. 
you  may  leave  the  army  in  such  a  state  of  hardness  and 
indifference  as  will  render  your  conversion  more  improb- 
able in  peace  than  it  is  now  in  war. 

4th.  Remember  the  promise:  Him  (hat  cometh  unto vu,  J 
willin  no  wise  cast  out.  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and 
will  hear  the  cry  of  those  who  call  upon  him,  no  matter 
when  cr  where,  if  they  repent  of  their  sins,  and  believe  or* 
him  as  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the 
world,  and  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save  those  who  were 
lost. 

5th.  Remember  t<o  use  the  means  of  conversion.  At- 
tend upon  the  public  services  of  religion  held  among  you. 
Read  the  bible  and  pray  in  private, .and  let  your  secret 
thoughts  be  rising  to  God  through  the  day,  or  when  pacing 
your 'rounds  in  the  silent   night.     Remember  also  the 


14 

preying  tent,  of  whidh  I  believe  there  is  one  or  mo? 

every  camp,  where  if  you  desire  it  you'may  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  worship  God  and  seek  his  blessings  in  concert — 
his  blessing  upon  yourselves  and  his' blessing  upon  your 
cause.     Those  who  are  ashamed  of  Christ  he  himsel 

earned  of  and  cast  off   among  his    enemies    at   the 
judgment  day. 

Remember   the  day  ic    keep  it   holy.     And   h- 

would  re&pectfully,  yet  most  firmly,  urge  upon  the  c:' 
the  duty  of  obedience  to  the  command  of  the  Almighty  ; 
and  that  on  this  day  there  be  no  drills  or  inspections  or 
parades,  and,  except  in  cases  of  palpable  necessity,  nd 
marches.  A  leading  organ  of  the  enemy  proclaim' 
the  opening  of  their  war  that  there  would  be  no  more 
Sunday  until  they  had  finished  it :  and  they  chose  that 
day  on  which  to  fight  at  Manassas  Junction;  and -it  is 
said  that  there  is  no  record  of  a  battle  in  modern  times 
begun  on  that  day  which  did  not  end  disastrously  to  tfcfc 
party  which  begun  it, 

Need  I  speak  of  the  effects  of  the  use  of  intoxi 
liquors,  not  only  morally,- but  as  in  all  cases  with  those 
who  are  well,  tending  to  produce  disease,  and  not  health, 
and  destructive  of  the  very  purpose  for  which  an  army 
was  raised  at  all?  Or  need  1  speak  of  profane  swearing, 
which  is  forbidden  by  the  Almighty  in  words  as  distinct 
and  authoritative  as  those  which  spoke  the  world  mpo 
being?  Gen.  Washington,  that  noblest  of  soldiers,  pro- 
hibited this  vice  in  his  army  under  penalties,  and  this 
on  the  ground  cf  the  provocation  offered  to  the  Most 
High,  the  need  of  whoso  assistance  he  so  deeply  felt  and 
so  promptly  acknowledged.  The  drunken  and  the  pro 
fane  are  a  disgrace  to  any  cause. 

The   soldier   who   has  no   regard    for   lh»  will, 

must  endure  the  hardships  and  p'erils  of  war  from  some 
inferior  motive,  but  he  whose  first  concern  is  to  approve 
himself  to  God  may  be  depended  upon  for  all  lesser  du- 
ties. He  will  endure  not  only  the  march  and  the  fight, 
but  he  will,  for  the  sake  of  his  caused  submit  to  a  strict 
discipline  ;  and  not  only  submit  to  it  himself,  but  by  his 
example  and  his  words  and  whole  influence  seek  to  pro- 
mote it  in  others ;  and  what  is  muoh  more  difBcujt  for  a 
gentleman,   rather  than  injure  the  service,  he  will  submit 


astice  or  ill  manners  of  unwoH 
be    his  inferiors  in  evory  thing    bui   rank.     Ha   has 
rked  in  a  cause  for  the  sake  of  which  he  will  ei 
any  thing.     He  is  fighting  to  deliver  from  oppression  miT- 
Iions  who  cannot  fight  for  themselves.     Hi3  is  one  of  fche 
;;:aruest   struggles  in  history,   in  which  nothing  can    give 
:  u.  ;   subjection   to  discipline,  such    power   of  endurance 
and  such    invincible  courage  in  the  field,  as  true  re1 
It  conn:1,  en  ce  in  the  presence   and    power    <  : 
^ilri^hty   which  it    always    imparts.     It   was   this;    which 
made    the  first  armies  of  Cromwell    the    terror  of  all    Eu- 
rope.    The   soldier  who  is    faithful  in  the  ranks    deserves 
the   highest  consideration   in    this  world,  ai 
should  fail  to  receive  it  here,  God's  approval  is  his  h 
reward,    and   he  can  afford  to   wait  for  it   until  he 
the  Great   Commander7))  vcice  which  calls,  t  jr.oe 

and  glory  m  the  highest  heavens. 

Soldiers  and  brethren — my  heart's  desire  and 
Goa  for  you  is  that  you  may  be  saved — saved  frc 
from    defeat,  from   sickness  and  from  death — saved 
sin  mid  saved  from  hell;  and  this  isth'- 
ten  :nousand  hearts  in  your  behalf,  and— 

*         -         *         ''If  ever  fond-- 

For  ethers'  weal  availed  oa  L:: 
Mine  shall  not  be  wholly  lost  ii  ill 
But  w&ft  you  nazro--  beyox  i 


